from Dartmouth
more good reasons to encourage chastity
May 2005 Archives
seems to be 3 days
see here
Nathan Tabor: What is the best way to prevent abortions?
What is the best way to prevent abortions?
Friends of mine are moving to Charlotte NC in a couple of weeks. They are a young couple, both grads of FUS with two young sons. Faithful, observant, planning to home school. They have no family or friends in the area, aren't sure where they will be living, and could use both prayer and practical input. Send me email or leave comments and I will forward it to them.
to Quenta Narwen and all Oratorians out there!
A is for Age - 50
B is for Booze - I'll try anything once, twice if I like it. But not many beers make the cut
C is for Career - Midwife, wife/mother, teacher, writer
D is for Dad’s name - Bill
E is for Essential items to bring to a party - my brains
F is for Favorite song at the moment - Boom, Like That by Mark Knofler
G is for Goof off thing to do -
H is for Hometown - Los Angeles CA
I is for Instrument you play - flute, guitar, mountain dulcimer, a little piano
J is for Jam or Jelly you like - rhubarb, plum, apricot
K is for Kids - On earth, 4 girls and 2 boys, and at least 4 more in heaven (or limbo)
L is for Living arrangement - 2 story cape cod with full basement, 4 bed 3 bath on 1/3 acre. The house faces exactly due south, so it's not straight on the lot.
M is for Mom’s name - Patricia Louise - Patsy Lou as a child
N is for Names of best friends - Diana, Denise
O is for overnight hospital stays - 4 hospital births, 3 surgeries
P is for Phobias - snails and slugs
Q is for Quote you like - "Of course I'm serious, and quit calling me Shirley"
R is for Relationship that lasted longest - Married now for 31 plus years.
S is for Siblings - 3 sisters, 2 brothers
U is for Unique trait - You guys tell me!
T is for Texas , Ever been? - Yep. Even lived there for a while.
V if for Vegetable you love - artichokes, asparagus,
W is for Worst trait - procrastination
X - is for XRays you’ve had - teeth, breasts, kidneys, lungs, arms, hands, feet (sounds like I should glow in the dark!)
Y is for Yummy food you make - just about everything. posole, tamales, risotto,
Z is for Zodiac sign - decline to state. astrology is bunk, and unChristian at that.
Feel free to snitch this for yourself - I did!
congrats to the recovering owl on posting comment #1800
and thanks to all of you who have posted answers to the meme below. (5 things in 24 hours)
I have a Spero article to finish on deadline and I am wiped (as usual for a Thursday). So I will probably be scarce again - unless I start goofing off instead of serious writing.
Why do I do this to myself? (procrastinate, I mean). I KNOW that the article is due every 2 weeks, I know what I will be writing about - I just can't seem to will myself to do the scut work of actually writing it...........
later gators!
For Mark in his personal situation
For this baby:
Date: May 20, 2005 Publication: The Telegraph (Nashua, NH)
A 2-year-old Nashua boy who nearly drowned earlier this week remains in stable condition at a Boston hospital, his father said. Josiah "Jo-Jo" Crosier was transported to St. Joseph Hospital in Nashua after his baby sitter found him floating face down and unconscious in a kiddy pool Tuesday morning.
The baby sitter is a patient of mine, she did CPR and probably saved the baby's life, and she asked me yesterday to put the baby on my prayer list.
In thanksgiving for a prayer answered most unexpectedly
For Father Sibley, that he will find the resources to finish his book and maybe reconsider his decision to stop blogging.
For the priest mentioned here and for all priests, that they may be strengthened in their vocation and supported by their communities.
I was given this one a week or so ago. I don't even remember who passed it on to me!
"List five things that people in your circle of friends or peer group are wild about, but you can't really understand the fuss over."
Here goes - in no particular order.
1. Opera. I like musical theatre and some operettas, but most opera just leaves me cold. I think that part of it is that I find most high pitched singing to be positively painful.
2. Cilantro. Actually, I despise the flavor of this herb. It tastes like soap to me. Yet lately it seems to find its way into everything from bean dip to chicken wraps. I would not be surprised to learn that some one had developed a cilantro ice cream.
3. Going to the gym. If I were going to pay someone to help me get regular exercise, I would sign up for dance classes. Or I would buy a bicycle and use it.
4. Reality TV. My life and work have much more drama and are much less predictable.
5. Snow sports from Skiing to whatever. I will say that it can be fun to slide down a hill once or twice a winter, but to spend all that money for the opportunity to break bones frankly puzzles me.
I am supposed to pass this meme on to a couple of other bloggers - OK, Mr. Luse, Mr. ORama, Erik - go for it
What I learned teaching in a Protestant private school....
I do not doubt the sincerity of those who organize and run these schools. They honestly believe that we Catholics are misguided at best and hell-bound or worse. And not all schools that claim to be Catholic truly fulfill the mission of helping the parents properly catechize their children.
Still, I think I would send a Catholic child to a public school, a Jewish school, an Anglican school, or even a secular private school before I would send the child to one that uses either the Abeka or BJU curriculum.
Robert Duncan let us know about his newest child.
Aliens in This World
How come no one ever told me about this blog?
Anthony Bradley -- Abortion by Race
Since 1973 the number of aborted African-American babies totals 12 million....
The mighty Barrister ends the silence.
The horrid consequences of the eugenics movement.
I heard a story recently from one of our family practice residents. Seems that a friend of hers was sterilized without knowledge or consent, at the age of 19(!!!!!!) by a doctor who told her after the fact that he had 'taken care of her problem' during her cesarean.
I remember hearing stories about what were called "Mississippi appendectomies" - young black women in public hospitals with abdominal pain being told it was their appendix, and as long as he was in there the doctor tied her tubes.
I remember seeing a young woman from Mexico a few years back who was concerned that she was having trouble getting pregnant. As part of a basic workup, we did a pelvic US that showed an IUD in her uterus. She honestly had no clue.
An interesting tidbit - the Federal Family Planning law has for several years required that consent for any sterilizing operation (including a hysterectomy pre-menopause) be consented for at least 30 days in advance. This can be waived to 72 hours only in very specific circumstances. A hospital that ignores this law will not only not get paid for the operation, but for any other bills incurred duing that hospital stay. But private insurance has no such safety clause.
Eventually I will have to sort my blogroll out. I would like to be more organized. Right now, they are all there in an alphabetical hodgepodge. I think that I would like categories of some sort - maybe the momblogs, the authentic feminist blogs (Like this new discovery), the apologetics blogs, and so on. But so many of my regular reads defy definition. Like Mr. Riddle, Mr. Luse, Mr. O'Rama and so on. And Erik - recipes? Rants" Bullfights and art criticism?
Oh well, It will just have to wait, unless a librarian friend should happen by to volunteer to put my life in proper order.
Your Taste in Music: |
| 90's Alternative: Highest Influence |
| 80's Alternative: High Influence |
| 80's Pop: High Influence |
| 90's Rock: High Influence |
| Classic Rock: High Influence |
| Progressive Rock: High Influence |
| 80's Rock: Medium Influence |
| Punk: Medium Influence |
| 80's R&B: Low Influence |
| 90's Pop: Low Influence |
| Adult Alternative: Low Influence |
| Alternative Rock: Low Influence |
| Hair Bands: Low Influence |
| Old School Hip Hop: Low Influence |
| Ska: Low Influence |
Thanks to Cole for the link.
I wish they had included some 60s and 70s bands - or how about some AA acts like Allison Kraus, Paula Cole, Patty Griffin, or even Dolly Parton! How about Harry Nillson, Randy Newman, Mary Chapin Carpenter (I guess they are all too 'old'). Well, what about Norah Jones? Sheryl Crow? Madeline Peyroux?Lucinda Williams (Car wheels on a gravel road, still makes me cry)?
I get the feeling that this quiz was written by a guy. I'm probably wrong, but the inherent bias in the list got to me.
And yes, I am putting off the serious blogging. I'm on call, looking out the window at what seems to be a gathering storm, and wondering just how many moms will roll through the doors tonight.
My husband is in media - radio to be specific. He is not on the 'talent' end (though I find him to be very talented!) - he is in tech support (so-to speak). He and I have had several conversations about techniques that various media use to put forth a point of view, while seeming to be 'fair and balanced'. I keep hoping that he will write a longer post on the topic, but he is a much more careful writer than I am, and won't put something out there until he is sure that he has it right. It's a virtue, I think, but it isn't mine. Anyhow, this newspaper article is about the recent announcement by the Pontificator (referenced below). Read it through - and then think about how that last paragraph might affect the casual reader.
I find the nicest blogs through my referral log.
Here is another testimony from a nurse who came home through the wilderness.
I remember that I found Tarot cards fascinating for a while when I was wandering, myself. Sam Delany's classic SF Novel Nova refers to them extensively, and I played around with them for a while. It is actually kind of scary how many portals Hell actually has around us.
Given the history of Tarot and the like, I understand why so many Christian sects forbade the playing of card games from Go Fish to Poker. I still have a hard time understanding why some Catholic hospitals foster Reiki and similar Gnostic healing methodologies. Or why the Catholic university I attended for 18 months allowed a recruiter for Trancendental Meditation on campus.
but welcome news none the less
The Pontificator crosses the Tiber.
As a sometimes homesick former Anglican, I welcome him home and hope and pray that he will be welcomed via the pastoral provision.
I think that if we ever contemplate relocation again (not terribly likely from where I sit) I will want to be near an Anglican use parish. The older I get the more I miss the liturgy of my youth. I think that the church does well to be truly Catholic and welcoming of the various valid rites, be they Eastern rite, Tridentine, Novus ordo and/or Anglican.
Thanks for all who offered prayers and best wishes for the confirmation. It went very well, there were 63 candidates who were all well dressed, well-behaved, and just plain wonderful. It was lovely to see my dd lead the procession carrying the Paschal candle to the front - this also meant that by the quirk of seating she was the first one confirmed. Her sponsor had rehearsed the somewhat unusual confirmation name (Gottschalk) over and over again. Bishop McCormick had a twinkle in his eye as he pronounced her name and administered the sacrament. The whole mass took around 2 hours, and the confirmation itself was 23 minutes of that time. Music was provided by members of the last years class with help from the Parish music co-ordinator playing organ and piano on the traditional hymns. The kids played guitar on the contemporary 'praise and worship' style music, but it was all acoustic guitar and fit right in. There was also a trumpeter who played along with the organ on some of the hymns. I was also glad to hear my dh acknowledged for his two years of spending 2 sundays a month with his group of confirmands. He is planning to do it again for the next 2 year cycle.
I have been reading my comments and my email, but have really been overwhelmed with work and family committments so haven't been making the rounds of the blogs. I know that Scott will probably pop up here to encourage me (yet again) to get and use an RSS feed and I suppose that eventually I will. The one I had for a while was not very friendly to my style. It was kind of like the confusion I encountered in the early days of the internet when I tried to get into various usenet groups - I just couldn't figure out the syntax and the process! That learning disability of mine is also why I don't participate in the forums including the St Blog's Parish Hall. My brain just doesn't wrap around that kind of syntax.
Work has been pretty tough lately. I haven't crunched the numbers yet but I am guessing that my cesarean rate (among midwifery patients who went into labor) is going to be close to 50% for the last few weeks. The hardest labors both on mom and midwife are the ones where you try and try everything to get the baby out the normal way and it just doesn't work. Have had a couple in the last few weeks where the mom and baby would probably not have both survived labor in the absence of modern medical and surgical care - and I don't say that lightly. I just wish that there were a way to predict these cases before putting everyone through this, but there just plain isn't. Only in the most extreme cases can an educated decision be made that this just plain isn't going to work - and it is still an educated guess. I'm a good clinician - and I am usually either right on when estimating the weight of the baby before birth - or I am 2 pounds (1 kilo) off. US has an error ratio of 10% - and we can't know what is going to happen in the course of labor to the mom or baby.
I hear you down there in the comments box who want me to weight in on the vaccination debate. I'm not ready to put the effort into doing the long research to put forth the quality of article that I would write. I am also wondering if I should try to find a paying venue for that kind of content.
On another note, I was passed the baton on the 5 things that others like that I just don't get meme. Have been mulling it over and will try to make that post fairly soon. I spend usually 7 hours/week just commuting, and that gives me some good thinking time but by the time I get destinated I am not usually in a position to do much with the thoughts I have been having!
Spero Forum
lots more good stuff to read
in the comments boxes over at A Saintly Salmagundi. It started with a bit about pharmacists and conscience clauses and evolved into a discussion of immunization. I put a lot of work into my comment and thought that I would also post it here.
***************************
If we accept the use of vaccines produced through immoral research on aborted fetal cell tissue, what moral standing can we possibly have to object to embryonic stem cell research or (later on, if any therapies actually develop) to the use of such therapies?
Also, mass immunization is not innocuous. It is an epidemiological herd concept idea where the risks to a small percentage of the population (and kids as well as adults have died or been damaged for life from vaccines of all sorts) is considered preferable to the large numbers of death and disability from the disease in its wild state. What is interesting to note is that other interventions rather than vaccinations may have been responsible for the decreases in deaths from infectious diseases. Sanitation has pretty well eliminated cholera and typhoid from the civilized world, not the vaccines (which are still available but not widely used due to the nasty side effects)
I personally have chosen to be immunized and my children are also immunized - though if I had been in possession of accurate information at the time I would probably have altered some of the timing and choices for the vaccines. I think that there is a need for true informed consent - and maybe then we could also have avoided the need for a federal vaccine liability fund (paid for by you and me folks, to compensate parents whose kids were damaged by vaccine side effects).
Anyhow - references below taken from the Children of God for Life Web site and verified by me in the medical journals.
On vaccine production:
Here are some excerpts from medical journals which provided specifics about the cell cultures for the Rubella vaccine:
Gamma Globulin Prophylaxis; Inactivated Rubella Virus; Production and Biological Control of Live Attenuated Rubella Virus Vaccines ; Amer J Dis Child Vol 118 Aug 1969
Dr. K McCarthy: It seems to me that there are two things that we worry about in regards to WI-38 cell substrate. First of all, presence of extraneous viral agents; secondly, the possibility of there being human genetic material passed over into the vaccine. I wonder if there is any information about the reasons for aborting that particular embryo that gave rise to WI-38; and if it was from a family, whether we have any information about siblings from the family and whether they are normal?
Dr.S Plotkin, Philadelphia: I should like to answer Dr. McCarthy's question. This fetus was chosen by Dr. Sven Gard, specifically for this purpose. Both parents are known, and unfortunately for the story, they are married to each other, still alive and well, and living in Stockholm, presumably. The abortion was done because they felt they had too many children. There were no familial diseases in the history of either parent, and no history of cancer specifically in the families; I believe this answers Dr. McCarthy's question.
Attenuation Of RA 27/3 Rubella Virus in WI-38 Human Diploid Cells; Amer J Dis Child vol 118 Aug 1969
Explant cultures were made of the dissected organs of a particular fetus aborted because of rubella, the 27th in our series of fetuses aborted during the 1964 epidemic. The third explant, which happened to be from kidney, was selected arbitrarily for further study.
Studies of Immunization With Living Rubella Virus ; Arch J Dis Child vol 110 Oct 1965
"This fetus was from a 25-year-old mother exposed to rubella 8 days after last menstrual period. 16 days later she developed rubella. The fetus was surgically aborted 17 days after maternal illness and dissected immediately. Explants from several organs were cultured and successful cell growth was achieved from lung, skin, and kidney. It was then grown on WI-38. This new vaccine was tested on orphans in Philadelphia".
on cell lines (from the Coriell Cell repository http://locus.umdnj.edu
( the cell line for a particular vaccine is listed in the PDR most of the time)
The MRC-5 cell line was developed in September 1966 from lung tissue taken from a 14 week fetus aborted for psychiatric reason from a 27 year old physically healthy woman. The cell morphology is fibroblast-like. The karyotype is 46,XY; normal diploid male. Cumulative population doublings to senescence is 42-48. G6PD isoenzyme is type B.
The WI-38 cell line was developed in July 1962 from lung tissue taken from a therapeutically aborted fetus of about 3 months gestational age. Cells released by trypsin digestion of the lung tissue were used for the primary culture. The cell morphology is fibroblast-like. The karyotype is 46,XX; normal diploid female. A maximum lifespan of 50 population doublings for this culture was obtained at the Repository. A thymidine labelling index of 86% was obtained after recovery. G6PD is isoenzyme type B. This culture of WI-38 is an expansion from passage 9 frozen cells obtained from the submitter.
The beauty of Humanae Vitae
May I also suggest Janet Smith's classic talk?
Yesterday I spent an hour at a local Marriage Prep program giving 'the talk' about NFP. It is challenging, knowing that probably most of these couples are already in a sexual relationship, contracepting, maybe even living together, maybe even already parents. Still, I have hope at least partially from my own experience, and even more from reading about the experience of others, that sometime somewhere at least a few of these couples will be open to and experience a conversion of heart.
Now, more than ever, there needs to be a return to the custom of having Confession available at the wedding rehearsal. How many marriages have their sacramental graces frustrated because the souls of the couple are already stained?
expect me to be scarce for a few more days. My youngest is being confirmed tomorrow evening! Unless she has changed her mind, her confirmation name will be Gottschalk, after the patron saint of linguists and reverts.
(and posts the answers from a select few)Why do you blog?
What other blogs do you read regularly and why?
What can a Catholic blog do that others can’t?
What are criticisms of blogs?
Let's all think about this - maybe we can devote an edition of the Catholic Carnival to these questions.
catholic OB blog ?
found while surfing for a particular article
New midwifery law in Virginia
Post-traumatic Stress disorder in infants
Abstinence pays off
Episiotomy causes damage (and, as Mark Shea would say, the sun rises in the east - duh!)
From AHRQ on episiotomy
Abstract of the JAMA article that got all the publicity
A 1995 study - part 1
part 2
I don't know why it took me so long to understand where the tradition of the Novena came from. Maybe it is because I became a Catholic first because of intellectual reasons, and my adoption into the culture was very slow. But a few years ago I counted the days between Ascension and Pentecost and came up with a novena. duh!
This year is very special for my family because our youngest daughter will be receiving the sacrament of Confirmation. Her class will be confirmed Friday 5/13, two days before Pentecost. Please hold her in your Novena Prayers, that she will be strengthened by the Holy Spirit. She is in the last stages of selecting her Confirmation saint, and has been doing a great job researching even some obscure ones, to find a special patron for her life.
Here is a link to the official prayers for this novena.
potential bioweapon and/or potential research tool?
BBC report here
thanks to Bene Diction for the link
link between prenatal exposure to two chemicals and prostate deformities in male offspring
I don't know if the epidemiological studies to support or refute this have ever been done. I know that the 'bible' for artificial contraception, Hatcher's Contraceptive Technology claims that there are no known fetal effects if oral contraceptives are continued unknowingly into pregnancy.
another catholic blog with good stuff to read
on lawns
(thanks, Scott - I really appreciate this!)
Spero Forum
Boycott called for Ebay
Tom Serafin, founder of the Los Angeles-based International Crusade for Holy Relics, is calling on Catholics to boycott Ebay
Lots of other good articles, too.
The Accidental Nomad
librarian blog
Bill White is discussing a project that I think would benefit from a librarian's input. See here for details.
